Exploring Postmodernism

Reflection #4

Postmodernism is about exploring every permutation of an idea that you can. In the pursuit of possibilities, the idea of what truth is also changes. The pursuit of a singular truth is a modernist approach. However, postmodernism views reality as having many truths, even at the same time. Each person’s perspective is one truth in a sea of many. Perspectives are shaped by the culture individuals are raised in and their personal experiences. Viewpoints never fully reflect reality because humans rely on the capacity of their senses and reasoning skills. Postmodernists focus on the newest understandings, how we achieved those understandings, and how they could evolve.

The internet provides a way for people to exchange information at rates like never before. Culture changes quickly as viral media rises and falls in popularity. There is a continuous proliferation of ideas that are then challenged or built upon. Postmodernism allows the conversation to keep going. While postmodernism focuses on divergence of thought, modernism fixates on convergence. Being consistent with itself, postmodernism does not have a final definition. Modernism has an end goal of arriving at the truth so the conversation can end.

People come together with their wildly different versions of the truth and express it on social media. Often, the “reality” constructed on the profile of the social media user differs from how they may seem in the physical world. People have more control over their image over the Internet in comparison to face-to-face. Their bio, profile picture, posts, pictures, location, etc are all controlled by the user, and it’s not always the same version as the person in other contexts. Perhaps the profile picture is a perfectly-angled photo with a filter over it or a picture of their favorite character, but neither is a representation of the user in the physical realm. Social media allows for even complete anonymity if the person constructs a pseudonym and leaves out identifying information, allowing them to perhaps express themselves in a different way than they can in other contexts. A modernist would try to pick which identity captures the “true” self. On the other hand, postmodernism acknowledges that each representation of a person on different platforms is true at the same time. This model helps us to understand how social media, with its different rules than the physical world, can depict different realities.

Meme culture, facilitated by the Internet, works largely within a postmodern framework. Web theorist George Ritzer maintains that “the Internet is a site of such conversations. It is a world in which there is rarely, if ever, an answer, a conclusion, a finished product, a truth.” In the case of memes, there is no end to where the joke can go. A few drawings of Pepe the frog can endlessly be reinterpreted and referenced with other ideas for years. You could argue that the original, unedited Pepe is the real one to focus on, but a postmodern framework allows us to see it as one of many templates for cultural commentary.

Ritzer, George. "The Internet Through a Postmodern Lens." Cyborgology. November 19, 2012. http://thesocietypages.org/cyborgology/2012/11/19/the-internet-through-a-postmodern-lens/.

Images

https://smarteregg.com/a-business-owners-multiple-personalities-and-why-they-matter/

https://pepe4trump.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/pepe_trump_cherry.png?w=700

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CB5_7jWWIAA2NLP.jpg

https://www.buzzfeed.com/katienotopoulos/1272-rare-pepes?utm_term=.uv9R4V4gN#.tr7dOeOpW